Google on Monday rolled out an updated version of its popular Chrome iOS web browser, bringing the multi tab-friendly experience to iOS 6 and more specifically the iPhone 5's 4-inch display, while Apple's own Safari gained over two percent share in iOS browser market.

When Google's app was first introduced in June, Chrome for iOS was thought to be the first legitimate contender to Apple's built-in Safari web browser, however it seems interest in the mobile browser has cooled with adoption rates showing only a moderate increase over the past two months.

Initial adoption of Google's app was high, taking 1.4 percent of the iOS browser market in less than one month as a number of users were eager to try out the software's speed and much-touted compatibility with its desktop counterpart. Chrome's unique features like multi-device syncing won some critical acclaim at launch, however Safari in iOS 6 now offers the same functionality with iCloud Tabs.

As of this writing, usage data from mobile advertising firm Chitika pegs Chrome adoption at 2.1 percent, with growth coming at the expense of other iOS browsers, not Safari, which actually gained an additional 1.2 percent market share.

Source: Chitika

The rise in Safari usage could be a result of iDevice owners upgrading to Apple's iOS 6. Earlier on Monday, CEO Tim Cook announced that over 100 million devices had installed the new operating system since its debut less than a week ago.

Who are these people downloading chrome to their iphones when safari works perfectly especially in ios6 with full screen mode

Me, chrome is my browser of choice, on my ipad and macbook. Its the only browser that brings together my galaxy nexus, nexus 7, ipad 3 (new ipad I hate that name), macbook, samsung series 9. If only Apple would let me set it as default. Thats the only reason I didnt get an iphone 5. Until ios lets me choice my default apps, its lagging behind. But the ipad has no competition, and I love it, so so so so much.

Who are these people downloading chrome to their iphones when safari works perfectly especially in ios6 with full screen mode

I did. I don't use it but I certainly downloaded it and tested it out.

I am fine with Apple not allowing 3rd-party parties to the same WebKit engine it uses for Safari because there are security concerns but I do wish they would allow you the option to change your default apps for the web browser, maps, and email in Settings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by "Apple
[" url="/t/152848/share-of-ios-safari-chrome-browsers-grow-as-google-updates-app-for-iphone-5#post_2197531"]I'm not a programmer, so do forgive me if this is not accurate, but.........

Aren't those other browsers just basically skins on top of Apple's engine? So, why even bother?

Not a skin which is just a veneer change with no feature change. it's a full-fledged app, it just uses iOS's built in engine for the backend per the developer agreement.

The reason people like the options is because it offers different features. Same goes for Maps, YouTube, Podcasts, Stocks, Weather, Mail, and many other apps that Apple supplies or supplied on their devices.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bighype

Chrome for iOS is much slower than Safari. I uninstalled it.

That's something Google can do nothing about. Apple doesn't give the WebKit engine it uses for Safari to 3rd-party developers for security reasons so Chrome for iOS is signifcantly slower in rendering certain types of code.

Chrome has a nice Find in Page feature which Safari does not have but it's not full screen, so it's not appealing to me.

???

Safari's search field gives "On This Page" matches in a separate section of the dropdown. Select it and it takes you to the first link. The right arrow icon takes you to additional matches, the left arrow to previous matches. You can split the keyboard, dock or undock the keyboard, or hide the keyboard entirely with the keyboard key at the bottom-right corner of the keyboard. That's true regardless of which search engine is your default (Yahoo, Google, or Bing).

BTW, it works the same way with PDF documents, except the search results dropdown says "In This Document".